The Story of Mary Macdonald
by expectopatronum267
Summary: A short story of a past flame of Remus Lupins at his time with the Marauders at Hogwarts.
1. Chapter 1

_**I think the title kinda sums it up. I don't think this will be a very long story, but I thought it would be cool to see a younger, romantic side to Lupin. Please review and whatnot, thanks!**_

The Story of Mary Macdonald

Remus Lupin was sitting in the living room at the Burrow, surrounded by many friends from the order. The Weasleys were bustling about getting dinner ready as Molly bellowed orders at them, her face red from the heat of the stove. Hermione, Harry and Sirius were sitting close by, Harry laughing at his old friend had just said whilst Hermione looked on disapprovingly.

"What am I missing?" Remus asked them and Sirius gave him a cocky grin.

"I was just telling them about Amanda Dean, remember, from school?" he asked and Remus shook his head in exasperation.

"From Hufflepuff? Yes, I remember her. She wouldn't leave you alone, would she?" he asks and Sirius grins,

"No one at Hogwarts could leave me alone." He replied and Harry laughed as well as Fred and George who came and sat on the floor by the fireplace.

"If you say so, Sirius." Fred replied grinning,

"What about you, Remus? Did you have any girlfriends when you were at school?" Ginny asked curiously, sitting beside Harry as he wrapped an arm around her. Sirius caught Remus' eye, knowing that it was a touchy subject, and he waited for a reaction, but none came.

"I- I did in fact." He said and the others all exchanged eager glances,

"Come on then, spill the beans!" Ron joked.

"No one wants to listen to Remus' love life, let's-" Sirius interjected quickly but Remus held up a hand to stop him.

"It's alright, Sirius. I think it's time, don't you?" he asked his friend who bit his lip in response. Just thinking about her made Sirius well up with anger and hatred.

"Her name… was Mary Macdonald... and she was possibly the kindest person I've ever known." He said, beginning his tale.

oOo

On the Hogwarts express, Remus wanders the train, looking for an empty compartment. Turning up with nothing, he decides to enter one with several boys around his age sitting inside.

"Excuse me, do you mind if I sit there." He asks cautiously, but then he realises. No one here knows of his condition, he could just be normal, with nobody skirting away from him… except when he left the castle once a month for his transformation at full moon.

"Go ahead." Says a dark haired boy, a casual elegance and smile on his face.

"Thanks." Remus replies stowing away his trunk.

"What's your name?" another boy asks him, with dark hair and glasses.

"I'm Remus Lupin." He replies, and he and the boy shake hands,

"Hi, Remus. I'm James Potter and this is Sirius Black." He says indicating to the other dark haired boy,

"Are you starting this year too?" Sirius asks him,

"Yes." Remus replies and the two boys exchange grins,

"Good, you'd better be in Gryffindor. Then we can all be in the same house together." James answers,

"Do you know what house you're going to be in then?" Remus asks puzzled,

"No, but let's hope we're in Gryffindor, eh." Sirius replies grinning,

"I don't care what house I'm in as long as I'm not in Slytherin." James replies and Sirius nods seriously.

On the train ride to their new school, the three boys become friends incredibly quickly, and Remus cannot believe his luck. With his condition making friends had always been incredibly difficult with all the prejudices against him, but these two boys, with their good humour, trouble making personality and cheek didn't know anything about him being a werewolf. And Remus wasn't going to change that.

During the sorting, Remus watched as Sirius Black, his new friend, was sorted into Gryffindor just like he wanted. James and Lupin applauded loudly along with the others as he sat down looking pleased, grinning. Not long afterward, a red headed girl with green eyes called Lily Evans was sorted into Gryffindor too and soon it was Remus' turn. When he too, was sorted into Gryffindor, James and Sirius applauded extremely loudly as he went and sit down beside Sirius who clapped him on the back.

"Mary Macdonald!" Professor McGonagall called to the new first years in front of her and a bold looking girl with wavy brown hair sat down on the stool, the hat placed on her head.

"Gryffindor!" it called and Mary beamed, jumping down and taking a seat beside Lily who welcomed her eagerly. James too and another small, round looking boy named Peter were sorted into Gryffindor and soon the prefects were showing them to their new common room, with a large fireplace, notice board and comfy chairs set in the room.

"This place is so cool, wait until my parents find out I'm in Gryffindor!" Sirius says grinning with a glint in his eye, but then Mary skipped over to the four of them, James, Sirius, Remus and Peter who they had started talking to at dinner and held out her hand, shaking each of theirs in turn, saving Remus for last and he noticed how incredibly normal she looked. She was skinny, incredibly so, her brown hair was untamed and wavy, freckles on her nose, thick lips, round face… but her eyes… they were blue and green and grey… the colour of a stormy sea. She seemed to look right through him.

"Hi, I'm Mary Macdonald. I cannae wait to get into ma lessons, can you?" she asks him with a slight Scottish accent, but you couldn't really tell much if it weren't for the way she pronounced certain words.

"Me neither, I'm Remus Lupin." Lupin says as she finally releases his hand,

"What lessons do you think will be most crucial? I've already started thinking about the lessons I want to take in third year but then after that I'm not too sure, I really want to go to the library though. My father said it's the most amazing place he's been too." Mary says extremely quickly looking around at the boys,

"You want to go to the library on your first day?" Sirius says, snickering as James grins.

"Just because you don't want to do well doesn't mean the rest of us do too!" Lily says standing beside Mary and tugging her away from the boys.

Over the weeks Remus became best friends with James, Sirius and Peter and they all created rather a large amount of trouble for their teachers and everyone around them. James and Sirius had started to make enemies though, and soon hated Severus Snape of their year with a passion. Peter followed them everywhere, but Remus was still rather attracted to Mary. Not in a romantic way at all, but she loved reading, and she loved doing homework and going to classes and talking to Remus about the latest wizarding news and many other interesting topics of discussion. She was plain in appearance, but not in personality. She was completely innocent, ignoring the Slytherin's taunts about her plain looks and shabby looking clothes, but she was fiery as well, brave, clever and incredibly kind, she seemed to be the only one to notice his disappearances every month, and when he appeared in classes again, she was always so pleased to have her friend back, even if they both didn't really spend that much time together.

"Oh, Remus! I'm so glad you're back! How is your uncle, is he feeling better? You've missed so much, here, you can copy my notes from our lessons, I doubt Sirius and James have taken any…"

It wasn't until their fourth year that everything seemed to change. He, Sirius, James and Peter were sitting in a compartment on the Hogwarts express, heading back towards their beloved school. Ever since Remus' friends had found out where and what happened during his monthly disappearances, he was shocked by their continued loyalty and friendship, and of course incredibly happy. They were in deep discussion of the animals they wanted to try and make their animagus when Lily Evans, her long red hair and green eyes still the same walked past the compartment. She took one look at James and stuck her nose in the air, continuing on her way. Right behind her was someone extremely familiar… but yet, completely different. She had light brown hair tied up in a ponytail, less shabby clothes on than usual, she had grown taller over the Summer, but she was still rather small, but the biggest change was in how much she had developed. She was no longer incredibly stick thin skinny, she had curves, and rather large breasts.

"So, James, are you still going after Lily this year?" Sirius teases his best friend,

"Of course I am, are you still going to go after every other girl in the school?" James replies and Sirius and Peter laugh,

"I don't get it mate. You could have any girl in the school and yet you still go after her?" Sirius asks,

"Well, I'm sorry but maybe I want the girl of my dreams." James snaps back,

"What do you think of the Potter-Evans situation Remus?" Sirius asks his friend, who is still staring out the compartment window, after Mary.

"Remus!" Peter called loudly and he starts, turning around to the others who are snickering.

"Sorry, what was that?" he asks feeling himself going red,

"I don't suppose you're lack of listening was because of Mary walking past?" James asks,

"No- what- your- no." Remus splutters as the others laugh.

Back at school, Remus couldn't help but watch Mary. Not in a creepy way, but when she was in class, sitting beside Lily, their heads bent together, chatting animatedly… he wondered what they were talking about. Other times, when she was sitting alone in the library, he had a sudden urge to go and sit beside her, when she walked past him in the common room, giving him a small smile, and when the Slytherin's poked fun at her the wolf inside him growled in rage, wanting to rip Lucius Malfoy's, Macnair's, and Bellatrix and Narcissa's throats out.

James still continued to pester Lily, and when this happened it gave Remus and Mary a time to chat, which in his mind, was becoming less and less frequent, and he wanted to change that. As Lily and James stand having a large argument in the common room, Remus turns to Mary.

"Do you think they will ever stop this?" he asks her and she grins,

"I think they will. I have a feeling that they are meant to be together, soon they'll realise." She replies and Lupin looks at her astonished,

"You think so?"

"I know so. How are you Remus… I heard…" she says looking around nervously, "I heard that another one of your family is becoming ill soon." She says slowly and he looks at her bewildered,

"No, where did you hear that?" he asks but her eyebrows raise expectantly and then the underlying message hits him. She knows. But she wasn't standing as far away as possible, she was standing rather closer to him than usual in fact…

He feels his eyes widen in shock, and his expression makes her laugh softly,

"I'm not an idiot, Remus." She says and he mouths at her wordlessly,

"How-"

"It was rather easy to guess. I've known for years."

"Really?"

"Really." She replies simply and he shakes her head at her,

"Come to the library." He demands and they hurry out of the common room, but instead of going to the library they stand in the deserted corridor.

"Why didn't you tell me? Why have you still been so friendly to me?" he asks desperately and she looks at him confused,

"Why wouldn't I be friendly to you?" she asks so simply, so innocently, Remus feels it again, the invisibly hand clenching his stomach, making it tight, uneasy, but yet, feather light and happy.

"But I'm a-I'm…"

"I know what you are, but that doesn't change the fact you're my friend. You're still Remus." She finishes and he looks at her even more astonished by her kindness,

"R-really? Most people don't want to be friends with a- well…"

"Sirius, James, Peter and Lily know though don't they? Why would I act any differently to them? They still want to be your friend." She says and he smiles at her sadly,

"Some people would call you all idiots." He says and she shakes her head, a large smile on her face,

"No… I rather think of it as being loyal." She says before taking his hand lightly and squeezing it reassuringly. This mere innocent touch makes Remus' stomach squirm with nerves and pleasure again, and as she lets go, she skips away happily, leaving him with a huge, mad grin on his face.

Remus stood with Lily, looking down at Mary as she lay in a bed in the hospital wing. There is a large scar on her cheek, and she takes another swig from the healing potion Madam Pomfrey left her on the table beside the bed.

"I can't believe what he tried to do!" Lily exclaims and Mary sighs,

"There are bad people in every walk of life, yet there is always good there too." She says playing absent-mindly with the other scar on her neck before giving him a quick glance. As their eyes lock he feels that familiar swooping sensation in his stomach and he can't help but grin at her, glad she is alright.

"I suppose you're right. But what he did was evil! You're lucky you weren't badly hurt!" Lily continues, sitting at her friends feet on the bed,

"Yes, but when has Mulciber ever been good at spells?" Remus asks and Mary smiles at him,

"Never." She answers, mischievously.

In their next defence against the dark arts lesson, they had to tackle Boggart's. Mary was back in classes, and she and Lily sat together in front of Remus and Peter, keeping a far distance from the Slytherin's in the class, who were still talking excitedly about what Mulciber had tried to do to Mary. Most of them were angry she hadn't received any lasting damage from the curse. But Mary was tough. Remus knew that.

"Now, who here can tell me what a Boggart is?" their Professor asks and Mary's hand narrowly beats Remus'.

"Yes, Miss Macdonald."

"Boggart's are shape shifters, they turn into whatever thing the particular person fears the most. They prefer to live in dark and enclosed spaces like cupboards and wardrobes."

"An answer quoted directly from _Defence Against the Dark Arts: Dangerous Creatures._" Their teachers says snidely but instead of being embarrassed she nods,

"Yes."

"Well, perhaps you could be our demonstrator." Their teacher says but Mary sighs,

"I don't think I can."

"Oh, and why not?" he asks sneering at her,

"I'm not scared of anything." She replies and most of the class laugh at her, even Sirius and James, although they try and hide it. Remus doesn't though, and neither does Lily who gives the rest of their class withering looks over her shoulder.

"I'm sure that can't be true." Professor Clarke says, indicating to her to head towards the front of the class, with a flick of his wand the wardrobe door opened, but no Boggart appeared. The door just remained open, after a while, the class waiting on baited breath, Mary turned back round to Professor Clarke and says simply,

"See, I told you I wasn't scared of anything." Before sitting back down beside Lily. Remus stares at the back of Mary's head in stunned disbelief, and also… pride. Beside him Peter leaned over to Sirius at the other desk, and the two of them and James begin to laugh at Remus' expression,

"Psst, Remus! Mary got your tongue?" James asks him and Remus gives him an annoyed look, feeling his face going red.


	2. Chapter 2

_**This chapter is going to have some more romance in it now that Remus and Mary are older! Thanks if you're reading! I don't own Harry Potter, I wish I did though.**_

In their fifth year, when Remus and his friends return to Hogwarts once again, looking forward to the havoc they can create, when he enters the common room once again to find Lily and Mary sitting by the fire, Mary curled up on the sofa in front of the fireplace, Lily whispers something quickly to Mary, who looks over her shoulder at Remus, beaming at him. James nudges Remus with his elbow as they head up to their dormitory, Sirius chuckling behind them,

"What about you two, huh?" he asks and Remus look at him quickly,

"I-I don't know what you mean." He says not looking at his friends, "What about you and Lily?" he asks James who smiles,

"I think this year will be the year."

"James, you've said that for years now and nothing's happened." Sirius replies drearily, dropping into his four poster bed,

"Shut up Padfoot." James snaps back at him.

Soon Mary and Remus were spending a lot more time than usual with each other, and Remus couldn't help but want to spend time with her, going with her to the library, walking with her between classes, sitting at mealtimes and talking about their upcoming O.W.L's. One night they sit alone on the sofa beside the fire, Sirius and James are playing with firecrackers much to everyone else's delight, Peter is watching them excitedly and Lily is out at the library. Remus and Mary sit side by side on the sofa, books open in front of them as they study hard for their Charms test in silence. Remus notices that for the first time in her life she's wearing a skirt, and he can't help but look at her bare legs. She sighs as she turns her page, uncrossing her legs and without meaning too, her bare leg brushes against his and she looks up at him, her cheeks turning red, just like his. She shifts away so that their legs are no longer touching, but Remus cannot help but notice how their small touch had sent an electric shock through him.

"I know you like her."

"Shut up, Sirius!"

"Why don't you just kiss her already?" his best friend asks as Lily and Mary pass the Marauders in the corridor, "I know I would if there was another girl in the school with boobs as big as…"

"Shut up, Sirius!" Remus says, instantly in a rage, but his friend doesn't care. He just grins,

"Why? What are you going to do? She doesn't belong to you, you're too chicken to tell her how you feel." He teases but James comes between the two of them quickly.

"Stop it, the pair of you! Look!" James says trying to distract them, pointing at Severus Snape as he walks past, his greasy hair and hooked nose not having changed since they first met.

"Want to have some fun?" Sirius asks James,

"I don't think you should…" Remus interrupts, but with not much heart in it. He didn't want to be uncool to his friends, when he had been made a prefect they had teased him a lot, but he was trying to have some control over them. However, it was too late, they had already caused Snape's bag to split, causing his papers and books to fly across the corridor and they were soon sending jinxes at each other.

When Gryffindor won the Quidditch cup that year, at the party in Gryffindor common room afterwards, Remus entered behind Sirius and James, both on the team, he had waited behind for them at the changing rooms, and the party was in full swing already. As soon as Remus entered, Mary looked up from her book, slamming it shut and sprinting through the crowd that enveloped onto James and Sirius and flung herself at him. In an instant moment, her arms wrapped around his neck, as his went around her waist and the two stood there for a moment, before pulling away awkwardly and shocked by their own actions. Then, glancing around, hoping no one saw them, they sidled away from each other.

One day during break, Remus and Mary walk together down the corridor to the dungeons for Potions, chatting quietly,

"Remus…" Mary asks cautiously,

"Mhmmm." He replies slowly,

"Does- does it hurt? When you transform, I mean." She whisper and he looks at her stunned. No one had ever asked him that before.

"Yes, very." He replies and she looks at him, sadness clear in her eyes.

"I'm sorry… I wish there was something I could do. I don't want to see you hurt." She whispers, knowing that full moon was close again. He looks at her adoringly, smiling,

"Thanks Mary." He says before a second year shoves her out of the way in a hurry and she falls forwards, but Remus catches her, his arm going around her waist as he lifts her back to her feet again.

"Are you alright?" he asks her and she nods smiling,

"Yes, thank you." She says but they continue a few steps before Remus realises he still has his arm around her, and as much as it pains him to do so, he removes it slowly.

A few weeks later, they walk back from the library together after completing a particularly hard essay for Professor McGonagall, Remus, forever the gentleman, offers to carry Mary's books for her, and after a long time refusing, he takes them from her anyway, and she cannot help but beam up into his blue eyes. They sit on their preferred sofa in front of the fire and Mary picks up the first book on the pile, opens it, and begins to read as Remus looks through the others,

"Do you mind if I read this?" he asks her and she shakes her head and he too opens it,

"Do you think that the war will end one day, Remus?" she asks him out of the blue, and he looks up at her surprised, but she hasn't taken her lovely eyes off her page,

"Yes."

"Really?"

"Well…" he says, hovering between indecision, "I believe that if we choose to give up hope that it will end, then there will be no one left to fight for its end."

"Hmmm." Mary replies in agreement as she flicks another page carelessly,

"I'm going to fight until it ends." Remus says determinedly and she looks at him, smiling warmly, her eyes twinkling,

"Oh, I know you will. You're my best friend, you won't stop until it's over." She says and he looks at her pleased,

"I'm your best friend?" he asks excitedly,

"You and Lily, yes. I know you two like the back of my hand." She says before sighing, "Even if you two don't notice that much."

"I do notice!" Remus says earnestly and she smiles at him, "And you're my best friend too!"

"You have lots of friends." Mary replies and he opens his mouth not stopping himself until it's too late,

"But I care about you more." He mentally kicks himself,

"You do?" she asks softly, the tone of her voice makes him perk up, looking back into her eyes which are no longer on the pages of her book but looking at him eagerly, hopefully… it makes his heart churn,

"I do." He replies quietly and she grins at him widely, her cheeks turning red and they both begin to read again, but without realising, Remus slides a hand down her arm, making her shudder slightly from his touch, until he reaches her hand, and their fingers interlock quickly. He pulls her closer to him and she rests her head instinctively on his shoulder, taking in the amazing smell of him that makes her knees slightly weak whenever she breathes it in.

For the rest of the week, neither one of them really knew whether their relationship had changed or not. Yes, they did spend much more time with each other than usual, but the Marauders and Lily all thought it was merely due to the fact they were both partners for their Charms project and as they spent most of their time in the library, none of Remus' friends cared to join them. But what they couldn't deny was the glances they gave each other in the common room, or in class, how she couldn't stop smiling whenever they were together and the way he laughed joyfully at her jokes or the arguments she put up when they were debating issues together, and also the way the wolf inside of him growled whenever Sirius hit on her, only doing so to make him jealous.

One day after their Charms O.W.L Remus and his friends head towards the tree beside the Black lake and they sit down in the shade, discussing the exam whilst James plays with his snitch.

"Look who it is…" James says and Sirius looks around, smiling softly,

"Excellent… Snivellus." Remus watched as his two friends got to their feet after Snape, he looked down at his book, trying to continue reading but failing. He knew he should stop them, but he was scared... if he stopped them doing what they wanted, then maybe they would no longer want him as a friend. He was a werewolf after all. He watched as they sent him into the air, trying to remove his trousers when Lily and Mary came storming up,

"Leave him alone!" Lily screams loudly and James subconsciously runs a hand through his hair,

"All right, Evans?" he asks, but she ignores him,

"Leave him alone! What's he done to you!" Lily says as Mary stands by her side looking furious,

"Well, it's more the fact that he exists if you know what I means?" many laugh, Peter included, but Lupin, Mary and Lily don't. The argument heats up; Snape causes a gash in James cheek whilst he and Lily argue about her going out with him.

"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" Lily screams, pointing her wand at James as he petrifies him,

"Ah Evans, don't make me hex you." He says warily,

"Take the curse off him then!" she says again, and Remus looks up a little just in time to see Mary pulling out her wand and aiming it at Sirius, who looks rather taken aback.

"There you go, you're lucky Evans was here Snivellus-" James says muttering the counter curse,

"I don't need help from filthy little mudbloods like her!" Snape spits and Lily stares at him coolly,

"Fine. I won't bother in future, and I would wash your pants if I were you, Snivellus." She says turning on her heel and as James tries to make Snape apologise Lily shouts at him as she heads back up to the castle. Mary however stands on the spot, glowering at them all.

"You're evil! All of you! She just saved your neck!" she spits at Snape, "You two are bigheaded, gloating, pig heads, you're useless watching them doing whatever they're doing!" she shouts at James, Sirius and Peter, and then she rounds on Remus and the looks he gives her makes his heart shatter, "And you! Just sitting there not even trying to stop them when you know you should! It's pathetic! You're pathetic!" she screams at him before running after Lily.

After Mary calms Lily down, knowing that her and Snape have been friends since before they even came to Hogwarts, she heads to the library to take a book out to help with her care of magical creatures essay, and when she returns, she finds Snape sitting outside the fat lady's portrait.

"What are you doing here?" she asks him coldly,

"Tell Lily I'm out here." He says urgently,

"She doesn't want to speak to you." She replies,

"Well then tell her I'll- I'll stay out here all night until she comes and sees me." He says and she rolls her eyes, whispers the password to the fat lady and climbs through. She passes on Snape's message to Lily and she reluctantly goes and sees him, but when she finishes her essay, she watches as Sirius, James, Peter and Lupin enter through the passageway. She gives them all glares as they pass her, Sirius and James shift uncomfortably under her gaze, but Lupin cannot even look at her, he's so ashamed. He leaves his friends and stands in front of her as she continues to glare at him,

"What do you want?" she asks icily,

"I- I know I'm pathetic." He says and she clicks her tongue, "I- I know I should stop them, but… I'm just scared they won't want to be my friend anymore because… well." He says tailing off and he risks looking up at her, only to see that she is still looking at him coldly.

"Of course they'll still want to be your friend! I just… you're the nicest guy I know, I thought you were better than just sitting there watching." She says and he looks at her in shame,

"I know, I'm going to stop them from now on, I promise… and I'll- I'll apologise to Snape tomorrow during class, I promise I'll make it up to them…" he says desperately, blustering about panicked, wanting her to understand how bad he feels and a smile spreads across her face,

"Calm down, Remus. I know you'll do the right thing." She says pressing a hand on his chest to stop him and he looks down into her eyes, and without thinking he puts his hand over her one that remains on his chest, massaging it with his thumb. She looks into his blue eyes in shock, but they continue to stand like that, before they throw themselves at each other, arms wrapping around each other as their lips touch, kissing gently but with passion.

They broke apart, still in each others arms, looking amazed, staring into each others eyes, then the catcalling and cheers reigned, James and Sirius the ringleaders of the noise as they envelope onto Remus, grinning and patting him on the back, Mary and Remus grinning at each other in surprise.

The word that Remus Lupin and Mary Macdonald were in a relationship spread quickly around the school. The teachers themselves found out and were rather silently pleased, both of them were incredibly clever and the teachers approved. Sirius, James and Peter teased him constantly though, but they were pleased that he had found a girl that accepted his big secret. Lily was pleased, out of all the Marauders she liked Remus the best, and they got on extremely well and both were prefects. But Remus was amazed by Mary completely. They would lie in the sun in the grounds by the lake, revising for their next exam, her head lying on his chest, which was very distracting for him, and sometimes he would set his book down quietly as she continued to read, stroking her long brown hair and watching her, a small smile on his face. When she caught him watching her he would look away quickly and she would laugh,

"What are you looking at?" she teases, propping herself up onto her elbow and watching as his face slowly turns red, trying to hide behind his book,

"Nothing."

"You were watching me." She says trying to pull the book from his hand and he resisted,

"Mary, I'm trying to revise."

"That's not what you were doing a minute ago." She teases, eventually taking it from him, holding it at arms length as he tries to take it back from her but she leans down and kisses him and he stops reaching for it, instead wrapping his arms around her waist.

But was amazed him the most was her complete acceptance of his lycanthropy, and when he entered the common room one stormy day, rain battering at the windows, she flung herself into his arms. The smell of vanilla and apples hitting him,

"Are you alright? I know it's tonight. It'll be alright though, and I'll be here waiting for you when you get back." She says kissing his jaw, the highest point she could reach on tip toe without him leaning down.

"I know." He says forcing a smile as they walk hand in hand down to breakfast.

That night Mary sat in front of the fire in the deserted common room. Peter appeared quite suddenly looking nervous,

"What are you doing awake?" he asks her and she looks at him sadly,

"Thinking about Remus. I just feel like… something bad is going to happen. And my feelings are normally right." She adds slightly dazed,

"You should go and see him, just in case." Peter says looking worried,

"I'm not stupid, Peter. He might…"

"I'm sure he wouldn't, but what if he's hurt?" Peter asks her seriously,

"Don't say that!" she snaps at him,

"Well, if your willing to not check." He says heading up to his dormitory. Mary knew it was stupid to even risk it, but what if he was right? What if something bad happened, what if Remus was hurt or accidentally hurt someone else? He wouldn't be able to live with herself, and neither would she if she didn't do something. She would just go and check on him, that's all. She had only reached the Whomping willow when she heard a loud pitiful howl coming from the Dark forest.

"Remus!" she says and without thinking she runs into the forest and towards the noise, however when she reaches the forest, it dawns on her how stupid she is being, and she turns to try and retreat, but the wolf is standing there, getting ready to pounce, she screams, scrambling backwards as a large black dog appears, pushing her to the ground and pushing the wolf backwards. A large stag appears as well, pushing the wolf back and Mary watches, horrified as the animals begin to fight him off, and her beloved Remus turns and flees after a while. Mary sits on the ground after having tripped over a tree root and she watches as the Stag and Dog transform into James and Sirius.

"You!" she says horrified,

"What were you thinking?" James demands,

"Peter said-"

"Forget what Peter said, he's an idiot. I'm going to kill him when I get my hands on him!" Sirius snarls,

"You are all Animagus?" she asks them and they nod, "Illegally?" she asks and they nod,

"Are you going to tell on us?" Sirius hisses and she looks at the pair,

"You transform to keep him company?" she asks and they nod, she sighs, "I'm not going to tell on you." She says and they look at her stunned,

"Really?"

"Yes, you're doing it for him. If it helps him then I don't want you to stop. But if you're found out…" she says warningly, "I don't know anything about this." She says and they grin at her,

"Go back to the castle, we should probably go and find him." James says and she turns and sprints up to the castle.


	3. Chapter 3

When Remus returns to class the next day, Mary is saddened that he is avoiding her.

"Remus!" Mary calls to him as he hurries from the classroom before she can catch up with him,

"What's wrong with you and Remus?" Lily asks her as they walk to the great hall for lunch,

"I don't know." She lies disappointedly. She knew it must be something to do with her going to find him in the forest the previous night.

"I'm sure you'll sort it out, you two are made for each other." Lily says and Mary returns the smile slightly,

"You and James are too."

"No we are not!" Lily exclaims annoyed, "He's a thick headed, idiotic…"

"Yes, but he's only like that around you. I think he's trying to impress you to much. He's really very nice." Mary says and Lily looks at her curiously,

"Really?"

"Yeah, he really likes you, Lily. I think you should just give him a chance." Mary says and Lily looks down at her plate of chicken pie, deep in thought.

Mary is upset when Remus avoids her for the rest of the day, and when he doesn't turn up in the common room later that evening, she knows where to look for him, and sure enough, he sits alone in the library, writing very quickly on a piece of parchment, several books open in front of him.

"Remus?" she asks him and he jumps, spinning around to look at her, "Why are you here?" she asks,

"I'm doing homework." He says turning back around, avoiding her gaze,

"Why have you been avoiding me today?" she asks, sitting on the chair beside him,

"I havent…" he mumbles,

"Yes you have!" she hisses,

"Ok, yes I have! I could have killed you last night, what were you thinking? What was I thinking?"

"Peter said… wait, what do you mean 'what was I thinking'?" she asks him bewildered and he shoots her a pained look,

"I don't think we can do this anymore, Mary. It's too dangerous."

"I'm not scared." She says urgently and he smiles slightly,

"You're not scared of anything."

"Exactly, I don't care. I- I want to be with you, Remus." She says desperately leaning closer to him and pressing her lips to his softly,

"I want to be with you too." He says between the kiss and they forget the argument.

Summer arrives, far too soon. Mary bids goodbye to Lily, James and Sirius for over the summer, she hasn't spoken to Peter for weeks and she and Remus get on another train at Kings Cross. Her parents agreed that he could stay over for the first few days of the holidays and Mary was excited for him to meet them, and they were excited to meet him too. They had to travel overnight on the train, and they spent the time reading, chatting, arguing over the last Chocolate frog, and kissing. Mary loved kissing Remus, the smell of pine filling her up, as his chocolate and minty breath made her knees go weak. They fell asleep in their compartment, Mary sitting in his lap, her head resting in the base of his neck, as his arms held her tightly. When light starts to stream through the blinds, it causes her to wake up and she remains in his arms for a while, kissing his neck and he stirs in his sleep,

"Mary." He moans and she giggles,

"Yes?" she asks innocently,

"Don't…"

"Why? Don't you like it?" she asks kissing the corner of his lips and he tangles his fingers in her hair and pulls her closer to his lips and she melts to his body.

"Remus, stop, we're here." She says pulling herself away and jumping up, taking her trunk and hurrying into the corridor,

"But, Mary, we're in the middle of nowhere." He replies confused as the train slows down and the two jump off, as it carries on.

They find themselves at a tiny station, there's a tiny empty shack nearby and they are surrounded by hills, mountains and moors.

"I'm afraid it's going to be a bit of a walk. Normally my parents would have come to pick us up but they're busy." Mary says, crossing the track as if she's done it a hundred times before and Remus follows her quickly. They walk for what seems like hours over the hills and moors, and soon he finds himself doubting whether she knows where they're going.

"Mary, are you sure this is the right way?" he asks her and she looks at him angrily,

"Of course it is! I know these moors like the back of ma hand!" she says and only five minutes later and Remus' arm feeling like it may fall off from carrying his trunk along the moors do they climb over a hill and they stop. At the bottom of the other side lies a large, grey stone, ancient looking farmhouse. It looks like once upon a time it may have been rather grand, with large windows and even a turret, a woman with bushy brown hair and Mary's round face and curves come bounding out the house.

"Mary! Mary!" she shouts as Mary runs to meet her and they hug each other tightly,

"Màthair!" Mary proclaims loudly and they start to speak in rapid Gaelic, as Remus trundles down the hillside with his trunk, not knowing what they are talking bout. It makes him seem slightly edgy.

"Màthair, this is Remus." Mary says indicating to him and Mrs Macdonald says something under her breath in Gaelic and Mary hits her on the arm, turning scarlet.

"Hello Remus, it's good tae meet you. Please call me Jane." She says slowly with a harsh accent,

"Thank you for having me to stay, Jane." Remus says and they shake hands,

"I would hae come tae meet you, but I need tae watch over the flock. We got Bugbears about." She explains as they enter the house.

There is so much furniture inside, almost everything doesn't match and there is a large wooden table in the centre of the kitchen. A roaring fire provides heat for most of the downstairs, and it works well and Remus sees a brush sweeping the floor by itself, as well as the pots cleaning themselves in the sink.

"Let's go and put our things away." Mary says and she leads him up the narrow stone staircase and along the corridor. She opens the door at the end and they enter, finding a bed, a wardrobe, a large chandelier hanging from the ceiling, a large window overlooking the stunning mountains and a large fireplace.

"Your house is…"

"I know, it's been in the family for centuries." Mary replies, "This will by your room, mine is right next door." She says and Remus nods and they look deep into each others eyes, her face turning red, Mary crosses the room to the window and leans against the sill, looking out at the moors and mountains that she knew all the way from her uncles house over the two mountains to the east, to beyond the small train station to the west, and everything in-between.

Remus realizes that this is the first time they have been alone together outside of school, and the thought makes something in his chest stir hungrily and he crosses to where she stands at the window, wrapping his arms around her and she leans her head back as he kisses her neck,

"Remus… we can't." she says softly,

"I know, but we can still have this." He says spinning her around in his arms quickly, catching her so that she's facing him, and she laughs.

"I love you Mary." He says without thinking, and he looks at her stunned, looking down at his feet, but she lifts up his chin gently with her fingers so that he's looking at her again,

"I love you too." She says leaning in and kissing him softly.

Mary's father returns home a few hours later as Jane is ladling out thick stew and homemade warm bread for dinner,

"Hello there, you must be Remus. It's a great pleasure, Mary doesn't stop talking about you." Her father says shaking his hand and Mary blushes,

"Athair!" she grumbles embarrassed as they sit down at the table, Remus and Mary still holding hands as they sit down at the table, but when they start eating, ravenous from their long walk, they let go of each others hands, but after they've finished eating, Remus places a hand on her thigh beneath the table, making her shudder at the contact.

"Well, we got a good sale at market." Mr Macdonald says,

"Really Athair?" Mary asks and he nods smiling,

"I think the buyers had a bit too much whiskey beforehand which helped a bit." He says and she laughs,

"That's good for us though." Jane says warmly patting her husbands hand and soon Remus and Mary find themselves sitting in Mary' room, Remus admiring the whole bookshelf that covers one whole wall, crammed with old and new books.

"Look at all of these, _Dark Arts Through the Ages, Charms: Advanced Magic…_" He says in awe, sliding several off the shelf and settling down to read. Mary watches him bemused, before walking around her room and cleaning up. She knocks her bedside table and grabs her photo frame before it falls to the ground. She looks at it sadly and placing it back in place,

"Who's that?" Remus asks her pointing to the photo. He recognizes Mary immediately, but beside her is a girl with bright orange hair, blue eyes, freckles all over her face and a round face like Mary's.

"No one." She says quickly sitting down beside him but he continues to look at her expectantly, "My sister." She replies in defeat and he looks at her confused,

"You have a sister?"

"Yes and no." she says looking down at her hands, "She died." She explains at his puzzled expression, and it clears, leaving horror,

"Mary, I'm so sorry! Why didn't you tell me about it before." He says setting down the book and pulling her into his arms, resting his chin on her head.

"It never came up." She replies dejectedly and he rubs her back soothingly,

"You know so much about me and I know so little about you, that's not fair. Talk to me about it." He says and she sighs,

"It was years ago, my father and uncle heard howling, so they went to check on the flock over the railway. Me and Barbara wanted to see what was happening, Màthair tried to stop us but she was weak, we had a bad harvest. We found uncle and Athair and some boys from the village battling with a… wolf." She says looking nervously at Remus and his expression darkens, angry, not at her, but at himself and his condition. "For the first time in my life I was scared. I grabbed her hand and pulled her away and we ran back to the house, I got over the track but… the train came out of nowhere and it was too late. We don't talk about it. For months, no years, my parents argued. My Màthair wanted to leave, find normal jobs that paid but Athair said that his family had lived and worked on the moors for hundreds of years and he wasn't leaving. So we stayed, and learned not to talk about it." She finishes, burying her face in Remus' chest,

"Mary… I… I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault."

"But… you still… after that werewolf killed your sister you still invited me here, you still want to be with me."

"The werewolf didn't kill her!" she replies,

"It as good as did." He says and she pulls back stroking his sandy brown hair,

"I don't judge a whole kind by one person. If we judged the whole wizarding world on the death eaters for instance then we would automatically assume everyone was evil. It's not right, it's not fair." She says and he cups her face in his hands and kisses her lovingly,

"Well it's good your parents don't know, otherwise…"

"They do know." Mary says and he looks at her stunned.

"Wh-what?"

"They know you're a werewolf." She says uncaringly,

"T-they know? And they still…" shocked that they treated him so well, agreeing to allow him to stay, shaking his hand, not flinching away from him like most others do.

"We don't judge people in this house." She says and he smiles at her, kissing her longingly again, but she pulls away instinctively.

"We can't Remus… we should be getting some rest." She says pointedly and he nods, getting to his feet with his borrowed books and heading to the guest room.

He lies disappointedly, changing into his grey pajama bottoms and taking off his top, lying on the bed. It's too hot from the fire to go beneath the thick covers, so he lies, staring up at the blank ceiling. She was so close. He loved her so much, and he wanted to be with her, but of course they couldn't. Yes, they were sixteen and could legally, but not here in her parents house. Mary lay, tossing and turning trying to fall asleep and failing dismally. She couldn't get the fact that Remus was next door, in bed… She knew he wanted to, and she wanted to as well, but her parents were just down the hallway… and she hated to admit it but she was a little nervous as well. She was still a Virgin. Slowly, she got up and climbed out of bed, wearing nothing but a t-shirt and tight pajama shorts which accentuated her curves and picking up her wand, she crept to Remus' door and opened it, finding him lying awake in bed. When she enters he sits up urgently, and a dazed and happy look passes over his face. He's never seen her wearing so little, and she looks beautiful as always, her cheeks red in nerves. She shuts the door behind her, casting a silencing charm on the door.

"Are you sure?" he asks her as she climbs onto the bed, saddling him as she kisses him passionately, pressing him back down into the pillows.

"Yes." She breathes against his lips.

Later that night they lie in bed, their breathing having returned to normal. Mary lies with her head on Remus' bare chest, his arms wrapped around her protectively.

"Watch." Mary says lifting her hand up into the air and making shadow animals on the wall from the light of the blazing fire. Remus chuckles softly and makes a crocodile with his as she makes a dog, she laughs as their hands meet again, playing with each others fingers, watching the shadow of them on the wall. Mary takes his in hers and traces the lines of his palm softly. He watches her tenderly,

"I love you so much, Mary. I think I've always known, ever since we first met." He says and she looks up at him, noticing the devoted look he is giving her,

"I love you too, Remus. So much." She breathes, kissing him softly as their legs tangle with each others.

It turns out that Mary's family are traditional sheep and cattle farmers. Her uncle stops by some days to pick up Mary's dad and they both head off onto the moors together for the day along with some of the village boys they hire to help out. Remus and Mary spend the time reading, talking or walking along the moors together and they never leave each others side at all. If she goes to get a drink, he follows her, one arm wrapped around each other, if he goes to find another book, she wraps her legs around his waist as he carries her back to her room/library. Mary's parents were normally out so they didn't see these moments of deep affection, but Mary knew how much Remus adored her, and he felt so incredibly lucky that this girl and her parents accepted him wholly knowing about his condition. Mary however felt the same, she was amazed that someone so clever, handsome, popular and kind would ever look twice at her, but when he scooped her up in his arms and carried her upstairs after lunch she would laugh, gazing into his blue eyes in admiration and adoration. Soon, Remus' stay was over, and Mary, her mother and father and uncle gathered in the kitchen to say goodbye to him.

"Mar sin leat, Remus." Jane says, hugging him briefly, over the few days he stayed she taught him a few Gaelic phrases,

"Mar sin leat, Jane. Tapadh leat for having me." Remus replies, not knowing what the rest of the sentence is in Gaelic and she chuckles,

"You're a good boy. You can come back whenever you want." She says patting his cheek and moving backwards.

"It was good to meet you, thank you for being such a nice house guest." Mr Macdonald says and they shake hands before he pats him on the shoulder. Mary's uncle and Remus also shake hands, but then Remus turns to Mary who is beaming at him, they wrap their arms around each other as she whispers,

"Tha gaol agam ort." She says and even though he doesn't have a clue what she just said, the look in her eyes makes it very clear,

"I love you too." He says kissing her gently, soon he steps into the fireplace, picking up some floo powder, shouting his address and disappearing from sight.


	4. Chapter 4

When Mary when back to Hogwarts after the summer, she couldn't wait to find Remus, but instead she bumped into Lily, who she was very happy to see at first, until she refused to go and sit in the compartment, he, James, Peter and Sirius were sitting in.

"Lily, please!" she pleaded,

"No, come on, I have to tell you something!" she says tugging on her hand and pulling her away,

"Why can't you just ignore them?" Mary asks annoyed,

"Because James hitting on me and Sirius poking fun isnt what I call having a good time." She replies sharply and Mary holds up her hands in defence.

"Alright, I'll sit with you. What is it you want to tell me?" Mary asks curiously,

"Well, I read an article in the Daily Prophet saying that Dumbledore and Cornelius Fudge were meeting in secret with others from Ministries abroad."

"What were they talking about?" Mary asks excitedly,

"I don't know! I hope we find out when we get back, maybe they're having another Quidditch world cup or…"

"Or an inter schools wizarding Charms championship! I heard that at one time different schools met up to compete in charms or transfiguration or Potions!" Mary says excitedly and the girls squeal together, both love classes and schoolwork.

When they reach Hogsmeade station Lily and Mary walk arm in arm to the Thestral drawn carriages. Mary knows that Lily cannot see them, and whenever Mary used to mention the skeletal winged creatures when they were younger, Lily's eyes would widen as if she were mad, so she now knows not to speak of them. The nearest carriage is filled with James, Peter, Sirius and Remus all of whom are laughing loudly. When they draw near Remus stops laughing and turns to Mary,

"Mary!" he exclaims and James and Sirius pretend to announce their love to each other, Sirius putting on a squeaky feminine voice.

"Give it a rest, would you?" Remus says angrily, offering Mary a hand and helping her up. Lily casts James and Sirius an angry look, before eventually joining them in the carriage.

"Alright Evans? Have a nice Summer?" James asks smiling and she doesn't look at him,

"It was quite satisfactory." She replies and Sirius chuckles,

"Looks like she's still not into you mate." He tells his best friend who looks upset,

"Shut up, Sirius." He replies as he watches as Remus and Mary begin to kiss adoringly,

"Yuck." Sirius complains and Remus carelessly slaps him across the face, still glued to Mary who smiles against his lips.

Soon they find out what is going on at Hogwarts that year… Dumbledore announces that the school will be hosting the Triwizard Tournament.

"No Way!" Sirius exclaims when Professor Dumbledore tells the school during the start of term feast,

"Yes, Mr Black. I want to impress on all of you that the schools honour will rest on your shoulders and I don't want you all to tarnish the schools reputation, so most of you behave like you do everyday and some of you might want to take example from your peers. Now off to bed, pip-pip!" he says a twinkle in his eye as everyone gets to their feet.

"I think we should go for it!" Sirius says excitedly,

"Yeah, eternal glory!" James replies,

"And a thousand galleons!" Peter adds, his eyes glazing over. Lily passes by, joining Mary's side,

"None of you would get chosen though, no one wants one of you three to be the schools champion. It would make me sick." She says and Sirius scoffs,

"Everyone would love us to be champions."

"Who are you kidding, Black?" Lily says laughing and Sirius opens his mouth,

"Leave it, mate." James interrupts, and Lily looks rather taken aback by James' sudden friendliness.

"I wouldn't want to be school champion. I would hate the fact that everyone is watching you, and knowing me I would probably fail." Mary says sighing as they head up to the common room,

"No you wouldn't! You would be amazing, as always!" Remus says romantically,

"Awww, no you would be!" Mary replies as they kiss soppily and their friends look disgusted,

"Let's leave them to it." James says,

"For once in my life I agree with you, Potter." Lily replies and he grins at her and Sirius rolls his eyes,

"It's an epidemic!"

The two schools arrive sometime later during the term, Durmstrang with their students of burly looking boys in heavy furs, making Lily and Mary peer at them as they enter the great hall one night during dinner, making Remus and James instantly dislike the lot of them and then Beauxbatons, the students all female, wearing pale blue silk. Sirius, Peter and James all applaud loudly as they finish dancing, Sirius catcalling above the noise and Lily and Mary exchange gloomy looks. Remus however, Mary is happy to see, doesn't have glazed over eyes at the beautiful young girls, he applauds them politely but not over enthusiastically and Mary smiles in triumph. He really, really did love her. Soon the grand Goblet of fire is revealed and Dumbledore announces that you must merely put your name in the cup and it will choose the champion by Thursday evening. Mary and Lily head up to bed, Lily going to write her own name on a piece of parchment to put in the goblet the following day, but Remus, Sirius, James and Peter sit up, talking.

"I'm going to put my name in." Sirius says earnestly,

"Same, what about you Moony?" James asks and Remus ponders for a moment,

"I don't think I can. What if one of the tasks happens at the full moon?" he says and the others nod,

"Ah, yes." Sirius says patting his friend on the back,

"Never mind, mate. We'll share our winnings with you." James says and Remus smiles,

"Wouldn't it be fun if we put Mary's name in?" Sirius asks the group, hoping for a reaction from Remus, and he isnt disappointed.

"Don't you dare, Sirius!" he growls angrily,

"It was a joke, Remus! A joke!" he repeats chuckling, as Remus continues to glower at him,

"I'm going to bed." Remus says angrily, getting to his feet and storming off to his dormitory.

On Thursday during dinner Mary sat in-between Lily and Remus. Lily had started spending a lot more time with Mary and the other Marauders, and soon Sirius' teasing and James' flirting became much less often, and she started to realise that they weren't all that bad really, it just took time to get used to them. Mary even saw her glance at James over dinner sometimes, which made her smile. She knew she was right when she thought they were both meant to be together. Meanwhile, Mary and Remus were leaning against each other whilst Mary played footsie under the table with her boyfriend.

"The Beauxbatons champion is Adelé Mareis!" Dumbledore announces and Mary watches as a woman with long flowing blonde hair and big brown eyes beams, strutting away to a chamber off the great hall.

"The Durmstrang champion is Mickael Antonov!" and a tall, well built, boy gets up but Mary cannot help but notice the dark glint in his eyes. Then Dumbledore catches the parchment in his hand and reads aloud,

"The Hogwarts champion is Mary Macdonald!" he looks around expectantly, but Mary doesn't get to her feet. She turns to her friends who turn to face her looking flabbergasted. She notices that even though Remus is still leaning on her, his leg is no longer grazing her own.

"B-but I didn't put my name in." she whispers to her friends frozen in horror and they all stare at her blankly back.

"Mary, if you please!" Dumbledore replies and slowly Mary gets to her feet, as the great hall applauds her, but she passes Dumbledore, her eyes as wide as galleons and he looks at her curiously as she follows the other champions to the other chamber.

Mary stands waiting for the teachers to enter. There has to be some kind of mistake! She didn't put her name in the goblet! She didn't want to be a champion! She would just have to explain to Dumbledore and the goblet can pick another champion… but what if it couldn't. Then what? Could she swap places with someone that wanted to be champion? Dumbledore entered the chamber followed by the other head teachers and the head of Magical co-operation Mr Harold. Mary got to her feet and hurried over to her headmaster,

"Professor, I don't know what's going on, but I didn't put my name in the cup! I didn't want to put my name in, I don't want to be a champion."

"You didn't put your name in the goblet?" he asks quietly and she nods urgently,

"No, Professor I really don't want to do this." She pleads and he looks into her eyes for a moment, and Mary knowing that Dumbledore is a skilled Occlumens, hopes that he will realise the truth, and she realises that he must do when his eyes looses their usual twinkle.

"Mr Harold, I believe Miss Macdonald, someone else has put her name in the goblet."

"That is unheard of, only dark magic can hoodwink the Goblet of fire!" he replies, his moustache wriggling in anger.

"Yes, but Miss Macdonald is telling the truth. Whomever put her name in the Goblet must have used dark magic."

"Is there any way we can change the champion?" McGonagall interrupts, having a soft spot for Mary.

"I'm afraid not, The Goblet of fire represents a biding magical contract." Mr Harold replies sternly. Mary doesn't hear what else is said, and soon she heads back to the common room.

When she enters through the passageway the room explodes in applause as the rest of her Gryffindor's congratulate her,

"You should have seen the Slytherin's faces!" one boy from fourth year says,

"At least our champion is a Gryffindor!" John Andrews from seventh year applauds but she cannot smile at any of them and she pushes through the crowd quickly, finding her true friends, not smiling, not applauding, merely looking at her scared.

"I have no choice, I have to do it." She says and Remus is the first on his feet, holding her in his arms as she hides her head in his chest as he tries to soothe her,

"Do you know who put your name in?" Lily asks desperately climbing over the sofa to her and hugging her, pulling her away from Remus,

"No… but they said that it must have been dark magic." She says trying not to sob into Lily's red hair,

"How could anyone do this to you? You of all people!" James says and everyone looks round at him shocked, Lily looking as though she's only just seeing him for the first time,

"Thanks James." Mary says surprised,

"Welcome." He replies looking concerned,

"When I find out who did this I'm going to…" Sirius begins clenching his teeth as he tails off looking furious,

"You'll have to wait until I'm finished with them first." Remus says darkly,

"We'll help you! We all will, won't we?" Lily asks the others and all of them nod urgently, except from Peter who is sitting staring into the fire.

"What's wrong, Peter?" Sirius asks him and he jumps,

"Nothing. Why would there be?" he says quickly, not meeting their eyes,

"Do you know who did this, Peter? Tell us!" James says quickly and he looks at them apologetically,

"I-I did." He stammers looking nervous. There is a short moment of silence, before Remus throws himself at Peter, wands forgotten as he begins to beat him up on the floor, James and Sirius joining in the fight as well,

"Remus!" Mary shouts as she and Lily pull them off Peter, who cowers on the floor,

"You did what!" Remus spits at him,

"I- I didn't think she would get chosen! It was just a joke!" he says shaking slightly,

"You complete prat, Peter! She's our friend and you- you…" Sirius says tailing off,

"Why?" Mary asks Peter sadly,

"I- I just… wanted to see whether I could. I thought you wouldn't get chosen… I though using your name would be the safe option." He exclaims,

"You used dark magic to hoodwink a powerful object to see whether you could? That's…" Lily says, grabbing Mary's arm and pulling her away from him and James, Sirius and Remus follow them, leaving Peter to pull himself up, looking hurt and ashamed.

Everyone seems to be glad that Mary is Hogwarts champion, apart from a few exceptions that is, like the Slytherin's, Mary's friends and Mary herself.

"I wonder what the first task will be." Lily says over breakfast one day,

"I don't care, I'm going to go in and do my best. I've learned more than enough, and I've been reading up on some useful hexes, jinxes and other spells."

"Well then there's not much else you can do really." Lily replies sadly as Remus, Sirius and James join them. Lily had gotten extremely close to Sirius and James, realising that they truly are good people after their indignation that their friend put another friend in danger, and she has really warmed to James, although she won't admit it.

"How are you?" Remus asks Mary quickly and she sighs,

"I'm alright." She says as she watches Peter sitting by himself, "I think we should make it up with him you know." She says and her friends look at her ridiculously,

"You what?" Sirius asks stunned,

"No way!" Remus exclaims,

"He didn't mean this. He probably wanted to prove he could do something right. He was probably trying to impress us."

"By putting your name in the goblet?" James asks incredulously,

"I know it's stupid… but no offense when has Peter ever thought things through?" she asks and they nod,

"That is a point."

"He is a bit of a dunder-head."

"And stupid." James finishes and eventually they patch things up with Peter, who is overjoyed to have his friends back.

"I'm sorry, Mary." He says in earnest and she forces a smile. However something still concerns her, Dumbledore said that it would take dark magic to confuse the Goblet… why was Peter so good with dark magic?


	5. Chapter 5

The first task came much too soon for Remus' liking, and although Mary put on a brave face, Remus didn't think she was as calm inside as her cool demeanour. She disappeared with a quick kiss after breakfast and he watched her hurry away after Mickael and Adelé. When they went out to a newly constructed stadium on the grounds, they all went up and took their places in the stands.

"I wonder what they're going to have to…" Lily begins but then a cannon fires and all the champions come out from different entrances, all are blindfolded. There is a large trophy hidden in the centre of the rocky, slightly maze. Remus watches, a pain in his chest as Mary stumbles over the rocky surface, trying to reach the trophy before the others. She is much more cautious than the others, Mickael throws spells all over the place, hoping to hit someone, anyone, and Adelé is completely loosing her head, running about and falling every few minutes. Mary continues walking, her arms outstretched, one hand clenched tightly around her wand, the other feeling around as she uses a four pointer spell he helped her research so she can find her bearing as well as using a sensory charm to make sure she doesn't bump into the rocky pillars sticking out of the ground. Suddenly, Mickael casts a spell and it hits a boulder behind Mary, causing her to fly throw the air, landing in a heap on the ground, she jumps to her feet, spins around quickly as her opponent opens his mouth quickly, trying to find his enemy blindly.

"Petrificus Totalus!" Mary shouts and her spell hits Mickael square in the chest and he freezes, falling to the ground.

The once indignant shouts and boos from the Hogwarts students quickly turns to cheers and whoops and Remus watches eagerly as Mary stumbles up to the plinth the golden trophy sits on and she grabs it and a cannon fires once again and she disappears with a slight pop.

"What happened? Where did she go?" Remus asks panicked,

"She'll be fine, it's just so that the others won't attack her now that she's won." James replies and then it dawns on them, and they turn to face each other,

"She won!" Lily cheers, wrapping her arms around James before releasing each other turning red.

"She won!" Remus repeats in awe. Soon Adelé reaches the trophy too, and Mickael eventually unfreezes and storms over to the trophy looking murderous.

"I hate that guy." Sirius says angrily,

"I know, he didn't care who he hit or what curse he threw at them!" Lily agrees,

"Really, Evans? You agree with me?" Sirius replies teasingly and she smiles at him,

"Yes, I do." She says and everyone laughs as they wait in the grounds for Mary and she soon leaves the champions tent, her face red and her eyes wide,

"I did it! I- I didn't mess up! I can't believe it!" she says throwing her arms around Remus who picks her up off the ground and spins her around several times before releasing her, and she turns and hugs Lily, James and Sirius, smiling at Peter. She still doesn't trust him.

"Come on! Party in Gryffindor common room!" Michael Terence calls to them and he hurries away up to the school, the others soon following. The party is amazing and goes on for most of the night, James, Sirius and Peter head down to the hidden kitchens and return with armfuls of food and glasses of butterbeer. Someone turns on the wireless and Dr Filibusters fireworks are lit and everyone cheers Mary and congratulates her for her petrifying Mickael, and many of her fellow housemates call him some very colourful names. Later on that evening, when many have started to go to bed, Remus and Mary sit curled up on the sofa, finally having gotten some alone time.

"I'm so proud of you, Mary." He whispers as she traces his jaw line with her thin fingers.

"Thanks, but I still have two tasks left." She says starting to trace the scars and cuts from his last transformation on his cheek, nose and eyebrow,

"But you're going to win! I'm sure of it!" Remus says earnestly and she grins at him, wrapping her arms around his neck once more and kissing him passionately.

At the start of December, it turns out that the Yule Ball will be held on Christmas Eve, and many are pleased about this, although some are not.

"What a load of hassle! It's just taking time off studying and trying to get some homework done. Also, everyone is acting completely ridiculous over it!" Mary exclaims as she and Lily walk down the corridor together, Lily had already been asked out on numerous occasions, her good looks were widely known throughout the school, and Mary knew she would have no trouble finding a date… however, Lily had turned down everyone, including Snape, who used to be her best friend.

"I take it you're not going with Remus then?" Lily asks her slyly and Mary's face turns to a frown,

"He- well- he hasn't spoken about it." She says and Lily bites her lip,

"He will ask you though."

"Well, why hasn't he done so already?" Mary replies, letting some of her worries out,

"He's probably thinking of some romantic way to do so, you'll see." Lily says confidently, but the days kept passing and Remus seemed to be avoiding the topic of the ball altogether, and this annoyed Mary, and upset her too. What if he was embarrassed to go to the ball with her? So when they had dance practice with Professor McGonagall, instead of choosing to dance with him she headed instead to Sirius who sat beside him on the opposite end of the hall.

"Come and dance." She demands and he grins cockily, throwing a look at his friends as he gets to hit feet and spins Mary around as she turns rather red, Remus looking shocked and hurt and also very jealous.

"Why aren't you dancing with your boyfriend?" Sirius asks her and she clicks her tongue,

"I'm annoyed at him."

"Why's that?"

"He still hasn't asked me to the ball." She replies after a while of him looking at her like a lost puppy,

"Hasn't he? That's odd." Sirius replies bewildered but then Remus gets to his feet and hurries over to them,

"Can I cut in?" he asks and Sirius releases her,

"She's all yours." Sirius replies winking, before going to pick up some fifth years.

"What are you doing?" Remus hisses at her as they dance clumsily, Remus isnt much of a dancer compared to Sirius.

"What are you doing?" she replies angrily,

"What are you talking about?" he replies, his angry expression turning to one of confusion.

"Nothing, it doesn't matter." Mary replies hastily, she knows she is acting stupidly.

"It does to me." Remus says lifting her chin up softly and they look into each others eyes,

"Why havent you asked me to the ball?" she asks rather quickly, before she can stop herself, and he chuckles,

"Is that what this is about?"

"Don't laugh! Are you ashamed of me…" she adds sadly and he looks at her stunned,

"No, of course I'm not! How could you think that, I love you Mary."

"Then why-"

"Because I- I was going to do it right." He says and she looks at him confused,

"What do you mean?" she asks and he kisses her cheek quickly,

"Meet me outside the fat lady tonight after dinner." He says hurrying away and Lily skips over to her friend,

"What was that all about?"

"I don't know." Mary replies, her mind reeling,

"Oh. Well guess what? James asked me to the ball!" Lily exclaims looking pleased,

"Really? That's so cool! You did say yes, right?" Mary asks her and Lily nods, her cheeks turning as red as her hair.

That night, Remus stands outside the fat lady, waiting patiently for Mary who appears alone, her bag filled with books.

"How long have you been here?" Mary asks kissing him lightly on his scarred lips,

"Not that long," he lies and she raises her eyebrows, knowing this, "Ok, a while. Come on." Remus says taking her hand and pulling her down the corridor at a pace,

"Remus! Remus, what are you doing?" she laughs as she pulls her along to an abandoned classroom, pushing her inside before locking the door behind him, putting a silencing charm around the door.

"Remus I-" Mary begins but she is cut off by Remus placing one hand on the back of her neck, the other on her back and kissing her, with as much passion and romance as humanly possible, and Mary almost falls in his arms. She unbuttons his shirt in a haze, ripping it off his shoulders as he removes her emerald sweater completely. Mary traces the scars on his toned chest delicately, removing her lips from his as he kisses them heatedly, but then Remus places his hands on her shoulders and pulls her away,

"Wait, stop."

"W-why?" she stammers, her lips red as well as her face,

"Mary Macdonald, I love you more than anything. You've accepted every side of me, and even though I know you could do so much better, I can't help but want you all to myself. Mary, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I don't care if you don't feel the same, but I do. After Hogwarts, I want to be with you forever and ever, I promise. I havent asked you to the ball because I don't need to, I want you to just understand right now, that I want you by my side for the rest of my life. A ball, a date, a wedding… whatever it may be, I want you there Mary." He finishes and she looks at him dazed, tears filling her eyes.

"Are you crying?" he asks her bemused,

"No." she lies, her throat thick, "I love you too, Remus. And I want to be with you until my last breath." She says and they continue to kiss, but with more tenderness and care, but still with that flame inside of them.

"Where have you two been?" Sirius asks as Remus and Mary re-enter the common room, extremely late at night.

"Nowhere-we… we were just…"

"At the library-"

"Reading-"

"Studying-"

"And reading."

A few days before the start of the Christmas holidays, and Mary was starting to panic. She was trying to remember something from a N.E.W.T grade book and kept on failing, reopening and shutting the book, trying to repeat the sentence aloud, it made sense in her mind, but she jumbled up the order and would open the book and repeat the whole thing again.

"Oh this is useless!" she cries getting to her feet angrily. The common room is mostly deserted apart from Remus, lounging on the sofa beside her and a couple of first years who hurry away at her words.

"What's hopeless?" Remus asks amused by her rage,

"I cannot remember this, and if I can't remember this then I won't be able to remember anything and then I'm going to fail all my exams and this," she says holding up the ends of her messy brown hair, "Is never going to look nice for the ball!"

"Your hair always looks nice." Remus interrupts,

"I'm worrying about the ball and our exams and this darn Tournament, and I'm panicking here Remus!" she exclaims and he leans forward, taking her hands and pulling back down to sit beside him,

"Mary, you're going to look perfect for the ball, trust me, you always do. Our N.E.W.T's are a year away and you can't do anything about the Tournament apart from practice some spells you already know, everything's going to be fine." He comforts and she bites her lip, getting up from the sofa,

"You sure?"

"Yes."

"Everything's going to be fine?" she repeats edging away towards the staircase up to the dormitories,

"Yes!" he repeats again exasperated,

"Even if McGonagall says we have to dance first at the ball?" she asks running up the stairs before Remus can exclaim in horror.

James, Sirius and Peter find this news rather amusing when Remus tells them, and they begin to mock his poor dancing.

"In front of the whole school!"

"The guests as well!

"You two have to dance first because you're champions?" they say before laughing loudly, leaving Remus even more disgruntled. Lily smiles at him reassuringly,

"You just need some practice is all." She says,

"Yeah, get your head out of your books and get some practice done, mate." James adds as Lily throws him an exasperated look, although a smile creeps over her face.

Lily and Mary spent the whole of Christmas Eve day getting ready for the ball. They changed into their dresses, and Lily looked beautiful in a dark green gown that brought out the colour of her eyes. Mary, however, felt hideous standing in the mirror beside this figure of beauty. She stands in a dark blue satin one, her hair has been curled by Lily and now sits in soft ringlets around her round face.

"You look great!" Lily praises,

"I feel… egh."

"It's only because you don't usually wear dresses." Lily replies, rolling her eyes,

"Lily, I've never worn a dress before." Mary replies and this causes the other to turn and look at her in shock,

"Really? Never?"

"I hate dresses." She replies grudgingly and Lily rolls her eyes and takes her friend by the wrist,

"Come on, the others were going to meet us in the entrance hall." She says pulling her from their dormitory and they follow the crowds, dressed in all different colours, and all looking excitable, whereas Mary stands with a face like thunder.

"Oh come on! Cheer up, Remus is waiting." Lily says and this causes Mary's heart to lighten somewhat and she even manages a small sly smile.

Remus, James, Sirius and Peter stand in the entrance hall, Remus is pacing around nervously,

"Remus, you're making me feel sea sick, mate." James says, although he looks rather anxious as well, Sirius however is looking uncaring, waiting from his date from Beauxbatons to emerge. Peter failed to manage to find someone to accompany him though, at first he was upset, but now he is glad he didn't, watching his friends looking sick with nerves.

"Sorry." Remus says stopping, although he taps his foot in anxiety, Sirius sighs,

"Would you two cut it out! Everything's going to be fine." He says, waving to the pretty blonde as she crosses over to them,

"Bonjour Sirius." She says and Sirius winks as she leads him into the great hall.

"Where are they?" James asks Remus who shrugs as Peter hurries away after Sirius,

"I-there they are!" Remus says as they catch sight of them at the top of the stairs. James opens and shuts his mouth in awe, but for Remus, although Lily looks amazing, he was so accustomed to seeing her in skirts and dresses it wasn't as much as a transformation compared to his Mary. Her hair was in soft curls and she was wearing light makeup that must have been forced on her by Lily, but it made her features stand out even more. The dress was a shiny dark blue colour and the material was floaty and seeing Mary in a dress for the first time made Remus' mouth open in amazement. He knew her body well now, but seeing her in a dress seemed to make him want to explore it even more. She looked around the hall looking for him and James and Remus hurried over to meet them at the bottom of the stairs,

"Hi- oh." Mary began as Remus swept her into his arms and kissed her adoringly,

"You look amazing." Remus whispers and her cheeks turn even more scarlet.

The great hall has been changed into an ice palace and it looks even more magnificent than usual, even the dancing isnt as bad as Remus thought, and soon everyone else is joining in so the attention isnt just on the champions and their dates. After an hour or so of dancing to the new much livelier music, the Marauder, Lily, Mary and the French girl all find a table and sit down, getting drinks and food. Sirius and his date don't pay much attention as they are stuck to each others faces, which causes many sniggers from Peter as James makes icky faces behind Sirius' back. After several more hours everyone heads back up to the common room, except for Sirius and Frenchie, as James now calls her from all the kissing the pair were doing, who mysteriously disappear. When they reach the common room, Remus kisses Mary lovingly and she traces the scars on his face for a moment, before they head up to their dormitories without saying goodbye.


	6. Chapter 6

Mary spent a lot of time researching new spells and previous tasks from other Triwizard Tournaments, but they never seem to follow a pattern, so Mary decides its useless to try and find out what the next task may be, even with Lily, Remus, James and Sirius helping her out.

"It's alright, all of you. I don't think we can find out. I'm just going to have to wait and see." She says over lunch one day before they get up and head to defence together.

One day though, Lily, James and Sirius run up to her in the common room very late at night.

"What are you doing?" Mary asks them bewildered,

"Someone," Lily says with a pointed glare at Sirius, "Told Snape to go to the Whomping willow tonight."

"I just managed to pull him out in time. He got a sight of Moony though. Dumbledore's forbidden him to tell anyone." James says and even Sirius looks rather ashamed,

"Not my fault. He was always trying to find out where Moony goes. Trying to get him expelled." He grumbles angrily,

"Where is Remus?" Mary asks quickly,

"Still in the Shrieking shack. But he's going to feel so bad tomorrow." Lily says sounding worried,

"I know. He hates it all." James says bitterly,

"It's not his fault!" Mary exclaims,

"It's Greyback!" Sirius agrees,

"He's going to feel terrible. I'll go and see him first thing in the morning." Mary vows, quickly finishing her conclusion and getting some rest which tries to evade her.

The next morning, as it's the weekend, Mary jumps to her feet and pulls on some trousers and a sweater, not really caring if they match or not, and then her brown boots and she hurries towards the hospital wing, but when she reaches it Madam Pomfrey tells her that Remus left hours ago. Getting rather worried, she runs back to the common room but none of her friends have seen him.

"He might do something stupid." Sirius says, angry at himself,

"We need to split up and try and find him." James says taking control and everyone nods and they head out the common room, running quickly in different directions. After at least half an hour of searching, Mary climbs up to the Astronomy tower and finds him leaning against the railings, looking down the long distance to the ground below.

"Remus!" Mary shouts and he jumps, spinning round to face her as she runs to him. She wraps her arms around his waist but he doesn't hug her back, which is strange and she releases him, looking into his blue, sad eyes.

"Remus, what's wrong?"

"I can't do this anymore, I could have killed him." he replies and she shakes her head,

"No you couldn't."

"Who am I kidding, Mary? I don't belong here, I don't belong anywhere."

"You belong here." She says indicating her heart and he gives her a pained look,

"I'm sorry, Mary." He says taking a step backwards and slowly, he climbs up onto the railings, his legs leaning against the metal which keeps him upright as he faces her.

"No, don't you dare! Remus, stop it! Get back down, now!" she shouts,

"I'm a monster."

"No you're not! You're not! Just reacting this way shows that you're completely the opposite! This isnt your fault, none of this! Sirius made Snape go down there! You didn't ask to get bitten! No one got hurt, come down! Please!" she pleads and he delicately takes her hand and presses it to his chest,

"I can't do this on my own, I'm going to need a little push." He says and she laughs, grabbing his shirt and pulling him closer to safety, but he doesn't come off the railings.

"You're crazy!" she chokes,

"Please, Mary." He pleads,

"No! Could you do it!" she says and he looks at her pained,

"Fine." He says removing her hand from him harshly and turning around carefully to face the drop. Mary stands horrified, no, no this couldn't be happening.

"Remus! Please, please, I love you! You're no monster! You're not! You can't help it!"

"How do you think I would feel if it were you, or James, or Sirius, or Lily? I might hurt any of you!"

"No, you couldn't." Mary replies feebly and he chuckles, preparing to jump. Suddenly, the solution hits Mary and she slowly steps onto the railing as well.

"What are you doing?" Remus growls at her,

"You jump, and I'm right behind you." Mary says fiercely and he looks at her, his heart breaking.

"No. Get down."

"No." she replies and they look at each other angrily for a moment before turning back around to face the fall,

"Fine." He says harshly again, his mind racing. He knew she would jump, but he didn't want her to die either. Why did she have to be so determined all the time? Perhaps she wouldn't jump, perhaps it was a bluff. But then, Mary takes his hand in hers,

"Ready?" she asks him quietly and he looks at her for a moment, relenting.

"No." he says, shaking his head and slowly he steps off the railing and she follows quickly after him, before punching his chest, causing his cuts he acquired the night before to pain,

"Don't you ever do that to me again!" she says, punctuating every word with a blow, before falling into his arms, trying not to sob into him.

"I won't." he says, realising the truth. If he died, it would kill both of them.

They walk back to the common room where Lily, James, Sirius and Peter are going round the twist,

"You found him!" James shouts, embracing Remus like a brother as everyone hurries towards them,

"Where were you?" Sirius asks angrily, Remus swallows hard and opens his mouth, preparing to tell the truth, but Mary interrupts,

"He was hiding behind a tapestry on the fifth floor." She lies and the others give him exasperated looks,

"Sorry, Moony. It was my fault, I just wanted to give Snivellus a taste of his own medicine." Sirius explains,

"Don't call him that Sirius!" Lily shouts,

"You could have gotten him killed!" James adds angrily, but Sirius just shrugs his shoulders dejectedly.

The second task soon approached in February, and Mary felt rather prepared and much more confident after her success in the first task. She went to the new stadium that was still standing and Mr Harold filled them in on what they had to do.

"Each of the three champions shall have their own time in the arena. Inside you will find dangerous animals and creatures, you have to search for a hidden treasure, something that any of you couldn't live without. You have an hour to look, but be warned of the dangers that lie before you. Mr Antonov you will go first, followed by Miss Mareis and finally Miss Macdonald." He says before they disappear to the stadium and a cannon booms and Mickael enters the stadium. Mary and Adelé wait in silence, pondering what dangers and treasures they must find and then there is a loud cheer some hour later and Adelé disappears as another cannon sounds. Mary sits all alone, going through the spells she may use in her head, Accio perhaps, maybe some minor hexes and jinxes. When her cannon sounds and she walks towards the entrance to the stadium.

Inside, she finds that the rocky surface has been replaced by a lush, green forest, the sound of exotic birds and insects fill her ears and she notices that most of these plants are magical and some she doesn't even know.

"Accio treasure!" Mary chants but nothing occurs. No, it wouldn't be as easy as that. She cannot see the stands or audience from beneath the trees and she can only distantly hear them, she wonders whether her friends are cheering her on. She hears a scream and the noise causes her to freeze in fear. She knows that scream. She hears it in her nightmares some nights. Her sisters last words. Her name, being screamed. But it can't be her, she's dead. She's gone. It must be a trick. She continues to walk through the wild, tangled forest, the branches and vines seem to move around her and she follows a stream around when suddenly, something leaps out at her, knocking her to the ground. The creature is huge, half Tiger half some other creature, with stings at the end of it's tail and it's teeth twice as long as a normal Tiger's.

"Stupefy!" Mary shouts as she aims her wand at the Tiger's stomach as it pounces on her. It drops down, stunned, onto her, and she heaves it's heavy weight from her. She finds Venomous Tentacula and finds herself caught up in Devil's snare but she soon gets herself out of it. Then again, the scream, but Mary battles onward and there she finds it, a large multi coloured bird, opening and closing it's mouth, mimicking her sisters screaming. Mary stuns it quickly, and it drops from its perch and the whole forest turns deadly silent, until she hears more cries, another voice this time. Lily's. Then James'. Sirius', Remus'. She follows the screams, crashing through the undergrowth, jumping over a babbling brook until she reaches a large tree standing alone in the centre. There are more of the multi coloured birds perched on its branches, and there, tangled in vines is Remus. Her treasure. The thing she can't live without.

"Remus!" she shouts, running closer to it, when out of nowhere, roots tangle around her ankles, pulling her away extremely quickly. She flies through the air before a carnivorous Daisy, the size of a wardrobe places her into it's mouth, the petals folding around her. She thought it was just an overlarge Daisy, and she begins to panic as the digestive liquid starts to fill the enclosed space, the scent of it poisoning her mind, slowly.

But she must get to Remus. She brings out her wand, and having never used a non verbal spell she focuses all her remaining attention on her spell and waves her wind as the liquid reaches her eyes. It works and she gets spit out onto the hard ground, but even though she is not being digested, the chemicals are still in her brain, making her whole body writhe and shake and her head cloudy. But she has to keep going. She slowly, carefully, gets to her feet and stumbles towards Remus' unconscious body, still wrapped up in vines. She whips her wand in mid air and the spell cuts the vines and he falls to the ground. Mary's knees buckle beneath her, and his eyes are still closed. She reaches out to him, taking his hand and they are transported back to the champions' tent where she passes out.

Mary wakes up, her eyelids heavy and her throat sore and constricted. She looks around at the familiar Hospital wing and tries to sit up, but a hand pushes her back down on the bed,

"Oh no you don't!" Madam Pomfrey says sternly, "You need to have rest and continue to take this." She says, handing her a small glass of strange green liquid, Mary drinks the disgusting potion and remains in bed,

"What happened?" she asks her,

"That plant's poison almost killed you, lucky you got out there when you did. I don't understand why they hold this darn Tournament!" she scolds hurrying away back to her office before returning with some presents,

"These are from your friends."

"Are they alright? W-what place did I come?" she says yawning,

"Your friends are fine, Remus left here days ago. You came second dear, we may have a Hogwarts champion yet!" she says smiling at her,

"He left days ago? How long have a I been asleep?" she asks puzzled,

"Three days." She replies and Mary's eyes widen in shock,

"Yes, that was a very mature Poisonous Daisy, normally you wouldn't have suffered as bad but as they grow older the poison inside them becomes more deadly." She explains,

"Oh." Mary replies and she begins to open her presents, sweets, flowers and cards from her friends, and also some other Gryffindor's.

That afternoon, the Hospital wing doors open and Remus, Lily, Sirius, James and Peter come bustling in, Remus at the head of the group, Lily close behind him.

"I'm so glad you're ok!" he says hugging her tightly, his face is pale and his eyes look red, as if he hasn't had sleep in days.

"I'm fine. Darn plants." She says, forcing a smile,

"We were so worried! Dumbledore was furious! When he realises the age of the plant he had an argument with Mr Harold, apparently only non lethal plants should have been used. Normally the young ones don't have that affect on humans." Lily says watching her sadly,

"Yeah, well, no harm done." Mary replies and Sirius scoffs,

"No harm done? You were unconscious for days, we thought…" he says tailing off, and judging by the look in Remus' eyes, he thought so too.

"I'm fine. Fine." She repeats holding Remus' gaze and she takes her fingers and places them at the corner of his mouth, forcing him to smile and he laughs, taking her hands and kissing them lightly,

"One task to go!" James says comfortingly,

"I know! Who came first, what happened?" Mary asks and they begin to fill her in on everything.

Soon, the last task is on them, and the weeks proceeding it caused Mary's friends to be extremely concerned. When the Slytherin's asked her whether she had booked her bed in the hospital wing, Sirius would hex them, earning him almost daily detentions. Lily and Remus were always in the library helping her research on new and handy spells, and James would even do her homework for her so she could extra time to research. She was glad she had such good friends, but still she wondered what the third task may be. Her parents arrived that lunchtime to come and see her, as well as her uncle, and Mary ran through the great hall to greet them.

"Màthair! Athair!" she cries, running to greet them and they hug each other tightly,

"We are so proud of you, Mary!" her father says and she beams at him. Mary's family sit with Remus, Lily, James and Sirius at the Gryffindor table, and Mary's mother shifts uncomfortably,

"My husband was a Gryffindor, but I was in Hufflepuff. It feels like I shouldn't be here." Her mother tells her friends,

"Don't be silly Màthair!" Mary replies but then she sees Mickael and Adelé getting up to leave,

"I think I must go." Mary whispers and her friends and family give her excited, but worried looks,

"Good luck!" they call and Remus takes her face in his hands softly and kisses her softly,

"You're going to be fine. I'll see you later." He whispers and she nods, getting to her feet and following the other champions.

Remus, Lily, Sirius, James, Peter and the Macdonald's find their seats in the stands once again, finding a strange setting. They can't really make sense of it because it is so dark, but it looks like a mixture of classroom, lake and maze and Remus and Lily exchange dark looks. A cannon sounds and the champions pop up in several different places in the arena. Mary lights up the end of her wand silently, so she can guide her way and she walks through the maze at a pace, whilst Adelé battles an Acromantula in a clearing and Mickael a group of Grindylows in the small lake. He emerges from the water, sopping wet and he trudges through the mud towards the maze. Mary has come up with a clever way of getting out of it though, whenever she reaches a dead end she transfigures it so her way is clear and as she passes through, it returns its usual self once again. They watch in baited breath as she reaches the classroom like place, and has to distinguish the potions from poisons, transfigure a Troll to a tin and she passes through the large wooden door behind that unlocks magically, allowing her through to a place where the audience can no longer see what she is doing. Soon Mickael follows her into the fog, but after several long minutes, nothing seems to happen, before someone, somewhere screams.

"Mary!" Remus shouts, knowing her voice. The teachers bustle about quickly, Dumbledore heads into the arena, and when he returns, Mary's lifeless body lies on a stretcher. Mr Harold, Professor McGonagall and the other headmasters from the schools gather around quickly.

"Let me through!" Mr Macdonald shouts, followed by his wife and brother, and Remus, Lily, James and Sirius are right behind him as they reach the small group. Mickael returns with the trophy in hand, his dark eyes glinting, but Mr Harold removes his wand from him, mutters something and soon Ministry officials grab him, restraining him,

"Mickael Antonov, you are being arrested for using an unforgivable curse and murder." Mr Harold says as the Ministry people apparate as Mickael shouts and protests, cursing.

"She had it coming! The filthy little blood traitor!" he shouts aloud as the officials wrestle him to the ground, managing to bind him as they disapparate with him. Remus watches as Peter cowers, Sirius trembles with shock and Lily and James hold onto each other, Lily sobbing into him. Mr Macdonald holds Mary in his arms, wailing and sobbing as Jane remains silent, sobbing into her daughter. Remus knows that Mary's uncle never married and has no children of his own, Mary is as good as a daughter to him, and he watches as he bellows at Dumbledore,

"How could you let this happen? How could you let a mad man compete! I want answers now!" he bellows as Remus falls to his knees beside Mary. He takes her cold, stiff hand gently and breaks down, allowing the tears and the sobs to rack through his body. Sometime later Adelé arrives looking pleased as she carries a second place trophy, but when she sees Mary, she screams, dropping the trophy in horror. Remus is aware of the students from all schools being shepherded away by their heads of houses,

"Donald, Donald we should move her body, don't you think?" Dumbledore asks Mr Macdonald, trying to place Mary back on the stretcher,

"No! No! Don't touch her!" he shouts back, and he carries her as if she was a baby in her arms, Jane stumbling blindly beside him, trying to reach for her daughter.

Remus realises with a jolt that this was now the second time they have lost a child in horrific circumstances. Their last surviving daughter is now dead, being carried in her fathers' arms.

"G-go. Remus, go!" Lily says her eyes red and puffy as she pushes Remus towards the castle. He glances at her, tears still running down both of their faces and he nods before hurrying up to the hospital wing. No one bothers to ask why he is there, and he sits in the chair beside her bed. Someone has closed her eyes, and she looks so peaceful, as if she is asleep and he wants to hold her to him tightly and never let her go. It feels as though his heart has been torn out and lost somewhere far away as he watches her, looking like as tranquil as after their first time at her house last summer.

"Mr and Mrs Macdonald, I think it best if we go to my office where I can explain what occurred earlier tonight." Dumbledore asks softly, as Mary's family continue to mourn over their daughter.

"No, they'll take her away somewhere. We're not idiots!" Donald says,

"Yes, they must take her body to St Mungo's, where they can prepare it…"

"No." Donald snarls again as Jane strokes her daughters hair softly. Remus looks up at her, tearing his eyes away from Mary,

"Jane, I'll stay with her." He whispers and she looks at him, without feeling. Her face shows no more emotion anymore, the kindness she had showed him has been replaced. Her eyes as blank as her daughters.

"You love her?" she whispers and Remus nods, "You won't let them take her?" she asks and he shakes her head and she slowly gets to her feet, taking her husbands hand and leading him away after Dumbledore.

Remus sits with his hand in Mary's and he blinks back the tears, unsuccessfully, and they begin to fall again.

"I'm so sorry, Mary. I- I should have volunteered myself instead. I should have never had let them force you to compete. I- I love you, so much. And I always, always will. I- I can't do this without you, Mary." He finishes pressing his lips to her frozen forehead.

oOo

The Burrow sat in silence as Remus finished his story. After what seemed like an age,

"Remus, I'm so sorry." Hermione breathed and this snapped him out of his stupor, and he realised that now everyone was hanging on his every word, sitting on the floor or leaning against furniture. Sirius looked across at his best friend sadly,

"So, Peter didn't just kill my mum and dad but also Mary?" Harry asked sadly, "I shouldn't have stopped you! You both should have…"

"No, Harry. Peter did a stupid thing yes, but it was Mickael that killed her." Remus replies morosely,

"He still killed my parents."

"Did you ever find out what happened?" Ginny asks sadly and Remus looks to Sirius to explain,

"Mary was almost at the cup, but he was so messed up in the dark arts, he so wanted to win he cast the killing curse at her before she could. He's still in Azkaban."

"Good. He deserves it." Fred says with venom,

"I quite agree, I still remember when I heard about it in the Prophet. It was awful." Molly says and everyone nods solemnly. As he walked up to the guest room he was staying in for the night, Remus took out a small pouch from his pocket, he clicked it open and inside he found the photo of his one true love, smiling and waving at him, now knowing what was to happen to her. And even though she wasn't here with him, he knew that one day he would see her again, and he hoped that she was watching over him with Lily and James.


End file.
